Remembering the missing children of Ohio

Almost 700 Columbus Preparatory Academy students cheered yesterday as they launched their blue and white balloons skyward.

Ryan Clark, The Columbus Dispatch

Almost 700 Columbus Preparatory Academy students cheered yesterday as they launched their blue and white balloons skyward.

But the same wind that carried away the balloons served as a chilling reminder that each carried the name of a missing child from Ohio.

The event at the school, attended by students, teachers and officials, was held to recognize National Missing Children’s Day, which is today, and to commemorate Ohio’s 690 missing children.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine spoke to students about safety and urged parents to sit down with their children and “get back to basics” with simple lessons such as not getting into cars with strangers.

With the rise of social media and the proliferation of smartphones in the hands of young people, parents need to teach kids about being safe online as well, DeWine said.

But technology also can be a tool to find missing children. Amber Alerts quickly spread information, and social media have allowed law enforcement to find missing children.

DeWine also released an annual report detailing 2012 statistics on missing children in the state and efforts to recover them.

Last year:

• A total of 19,219 reports of missing children were made; of those, 98.8 percent were recovered safely.

• About 60 percent were runaways and about 39 percent were lost or injured. The remaining reports included 85 abductions.

• Nine children were found dead last year. Three girls and one boy were homicide victims, two boys committed suicide, two boys were killed in hit-skip crashes and one boy drowned. Nearly 4,000 missing-child reports were filed in Franklin County last year, about 1 in every 5 reports in Ohio. There were 1,617 in Hamilton County and 2,815 in Cuyahoga County.

DeWine said the statistics don’t show that urban areas are any more dangerous than others.

About 200 children reported missing last year have not yet been found.

Officials hope they will be recovered, but know it becomes more difficult as time passes, said Brent Currence, coordinator of the Missing Children’s Unit in DeWine’s office. “Memories fade and evidence disappears,” he said.

Sometimes, though, miracles happen, including the discovery of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight in Cleveland this month. DeWine said their recovery is an important reminder to continue searching for missing children.

The balloon release indicates “we’re not giving up hope,” DeWine said. “They’re out there somewhere.”